Fayette, IA - On Sunday, the Parkside Rangers played in a double header against the Upper Iowa Peacocks. Parkside dominated in the first game, winning 11-5 behind a pair of long balls. The Peacocks got their revenge in game two, defeating Parkside 8-3.
GAME ONE
Parkside began the day in Iowa with an offensive explosion in the first inning. After the first three hitters of the inning reached the base path and scored a run, Andrew Harris delivered a monster three-run home run. It was the first homer of the season for Harris who finished with the second most on the team just a season ago. Emanuel Andujar Ferreira drove in Parkside's fifth run of the inning, doubling home Carter Storti.
The scoring never stopped for Parkside as another senior jumped in on the fun. Jared Heinzen clubbed his first long ball of the season in the fifth inning. The Rangers went out to a 10-1 lead after five innings of action in game one.
Noah Gerritson provided 2.2 innings of work, not allowing a hit but walking four batters. Freshman Austin Grube relieved him of his duties and registered the win, the first in his collegiate career. Grube tossed 2.1 innings, allowing no runs on just two hits and punching one batter out. Camden Kearney slammed the door in the seventh inning, tallying a pair of strikeouts en route to a perfect inning.
GAME TWO
It seemed as if the script was literally flipped in the second game of the day. This time it was the Peacocks out to a 5-0 lead after the second inning. Parkside, who out hit Upper Iowa, notched all of their runs on one swing of the bat. John St. Clair smoked a bases clearing double in the top of the third, cutting into the deficit. Upper Iowa possessed a two-run advantage a third of the way through.
Parkside was held scoreless for the final six frames of the game. However, the team received great innings of relief in the later stages of the ballgame. Nathan Ciemny, Leo Berger, Maguire Delagrave, Kaleb Schulist, and Benje Hencke all combined to allow just one earned run.
Even though the relief was good enough to keep them in the game, Parkside was unable to produce any offense after the third inning. Jared Heinzen collected two hits and was the only Ranger to have a multi-hit performance. Parkside is now 3-3 to begin the 2024 campaign.
NEXT
Parkside will next host Upper Iowa in Kenosha on Tuesday. It will be a double header starting at 11 am at Augie Schmidt Field. For coverage of the event, visit ParksideRangers.com/coverage.
